I blew up the inverter????

I am not sure if I understand your entire story, but I would probably contact a lawyer. They have no proof that you did it either, in my opinion they would have to prove that jumping the battery in reverse would blow the inverter. By the way the battery in my 2007 is connected with black wires on both the pos. and neg., but there was a red / orange cap on the pos. side. In my opinion the pos. should have the standard red wire and I feel that it is somewhat negligent that it doesn't. Thankfully I am smart enough to always look for the + sign on the battery any way rather then assume anything.

 

Feel free to try and tell us the whole story, so we can try to figure out what happened.

Before dealing with any lawyers, I'd recommend finding another dealer or perhaps a reputable independent mechanic or testing service or consumer advocate, and discussing your story with them. Perhaps they could give you free advice, or at least a quick general diagnosis for $100 or less.

Beyond that, if you have a good story, and Toyota won't budge for you, take the story to a local TV station or newspaper.

If you feel you truly did nothing wrong, or at least took due care in the circumstances (and under direction from someone ?), then don't take any 50% or parts only deals. Demand they cover it 100%.

 

.
continue your pursuit for Toyota resolving the technical issue and bill, but target managers of supervisors and bosses of managers, not just the first people you talk to.
For example, try to get the owner of the dealership on your side(hoping he/she is concerned to maintain a strong image of satisfied service), or if you contact Toyota HQ, right away ask for a manager. Go outside the box and appeal to other Toyota HQ contacts.
Focus on the many different instructions from Toyota personnel potentially causing the problem. Maybe they have a protocol when providing instructions. Maybe they didn't follow it properly?

Anyone lower on the ladder than the owner or Toyota HQ high ups probably couldn't care less and may not budge. Get their superiors to budge them since they might be the only ones truly concerned about reputation enough to make good on this even if it was caused by you.


If nothing works, maybe you can at least get 1/2 paid by Toyota?
Maybe you can find the part from a salvaged Prii instead of letting the dealership charge you?

GL Keep us posted
.

 

Lawyer wont help. Another dealer wont help either as the repair is logged in the main computer.

About all you can do is find out exactly what is wrong and buy the parts at a junkyard and do it yourself. Maybe you can get the parts for 1k at the boneyard. But if the battery was dead maybe you can prove it was dead BECAUSE the parts failed. Not because what you did. Why did you not just have it towed in the first place?

 

Sorry to hear about your trouble. There are a few recent posts from other individuals who admitted that they reversed polarity when jumpstarting. Although the resolution of those situations is still undetermined, it is likely that the inverters had been damaged.

When you say "bad defuser", perhaps you mean the 100A DC/DC fuse link? If that fuse link blew, that is reasonable evidence that the jump polarity was reversed. The fuse links reside in a grey/clear plastic box immediately next to the dedicated jump start terminal.

Do you have the DTC (diagnostic trouble codes) that were logged? That might also shed light on the problem.

I don't know how much success you will have in contesting Toyota's findings since the 2G inverter does not have an extensive history of failures resulting from other than user error.

An alternative to paying $4,800 to the dealer would be to purchase a used inverter from a salvage yard, and find an independent tech trained on Prius to install it. That might bring the bill down to under $1,000.

Good luck.

 

I was gunna ask that too but hindsight Q's can be touchy
Don't think I would have called a tow right away if my batt was dead.

I hate how the hatch won't open when batt is off too.

You shouldn't have to pay $4,800 if you get the part from salvage, but it may be a $1,000 lesson still.

Sorry to hear it happened. Best of luck resolving the matter
.

 

I am interested in understanding exactly how you did the jump start. Did you use the battery from another vehicle or did you use a battery charger to provide this voltage?

• If the former, did you personally verify that the battery polarity was correct from the donor vehicle or did you rely on a third party?
• If the latter, exactly how did you set up the battery charger to provide this voltage?

 

It sounds like the damage occurred when you did the jump start with the other vehicle, or perhaps had occurred prior to the jump start. Was the engine of that vehicle on? I am wondering if the voltage output from that car was greater than the expected 14.5V or so, which caused your problems. If you have access to a digital voltmeter and that vehicle, it would be interesting to see what the voltage output is.

It would also be interesting to find out whether your battery really had been low or not. The fact that the battery did not accept a charge from the charger implies that the battery might have been good.

Well - it sounds like your Prius has now been sitting at the dealer for one month. You are probably tired of dealing with the dealer's service dept staff and they undoubtedly are also tired of the situation and wishing you would tow your car away and leave them in peace.

Nevertheless, if you can contact the responsible tech or the service writer, and find out exactly what DTC had been logged and exactly which fuses (or fuse links) had been destroyed, maybe we can offer an opinion about whether it is possible that some other problem exists, instead of a failed inverter.

Regarding Jeep, you appear to have been very lucky as an owner since in general that brand has a poor reliability record. The Prius is extremely complex, and on the occasion when there is a failure, unwarranted repairs can be extremely expensive as you have learned.

I am wondering whether you feel that the salvage parts route is a reasonable one for you to pursue.

 

If you can find out the DTCs (diagnostic trouble code) and exactly which fuses or fusible links were blown (my guess is that the DC/DC 100A fusible link is the one, given the diagnosis of a failed inverter), that would be helpful, if you would like confirmation that the inverter has in fact failed.

Yes, I understand your frustration when a relatively new car does not start. That is really irritating. Most owners who have needed to jump start their Prius have been able to do so successfully.

As far as locating salvage parts is concerned, one place is eBay Motors. However as of this writing no suitable inverters are being offered for sale there. You can also do a Google search for Prius salvage parts.

The other part of the repair problem will be finding an independent mechanic willing to learn how to install the inverter, which will not be easy as it appears you are in a rural location. Toyota has a subscription website that provides repair manual info: techinfo.toyota.com

 

Sorry for your trouble. A couple o thoughts. (They may not help you, but they might help the next person!)

First, the 12 volt battery shouldn't go dead in 5k miles or 1 year. While it is possible that you did something to drain the battery, (lights on radio, key on etc) it is also possible that you have a defective battery.

Second, acting on the advice of Toyota's reps (salesmen, service dept., manual, etc.) you did what you thought was correct to start the car. It seems they should have some culpability here.

Third, it is not a complicated issue to protect the special jumping lug under the hood from reverse polarity. A sensor and a switch that would not allow it to be closed if the polarity is wrong. With economy of scale, this protection would cost Toyota next to nothing per unit to install.If

Fourth, if reverse polarity jumping is as potentially damaging as it seems, Toyota should do (or have done) number three.

Fifth, once again, if reverse polarity is as potentially damaging Toyota should state so in the manual

Sixth. if all of the above is true, it seems that a shark lawyer should be able to solve this.

You can't expect the car to be towed to the dealer every time there is a dead battery. AAA would go nuts!

Finally, If you can't get satisfaction from Toyota by making a huge stink, I suggest that you contact your car and homeowners insurance. I seem to be insured for all kinds of things that I didn't know. I have never used it, but I know people who have claimed all kinds of odd things, and have gotten paid. (once again a big stink works)

Once again, sorry for your trouble, and good luck,

Icarus

 

Go to this site and file a complaint if nothing else works:

ODI - Office of Defects Investigation

 

Does your state have a Lemon Law? I'm sure they do. Maybe a complaint through the lemon law can get Toyota's attention and have them give you a "good faith" repair. I thought the Prius had failsafes built in to protect the car from dead batteries. Your defective battery plus defective dealer advice caused this problem. IMO. I know that it is possible for Toyota to waive the repair costs in the interest of good customer relations. This will require you to raise a big stink that they want to go away though.

 

How much do you want?

Bob Wilson

 

The 12V auxiliary battery can go dead if the passenger cabin lights are left on (say if the hatch is not properly closed or a door is left ajar.) It can go dead if the car is not driven sufficiently to keep the battery charged. The 12V bus maintains voltage at 13.8V which is less than most cars (which operate at 14.5V or perhaps more), so it will take longer to charge a drained battery. The battery can fail randomly, after all it is a consumer product designed for a cost point, and does not offer 100% reliability.

Others are giving you advice to "stir the pot, raise a stink", etc. You've already tried that during the past month. In my opinion this activity is premature because you don't know for sure exactly what is wrong with the car. Once you have gotten the car repaired and know what failed, then you can write letters, complain, ask for reimbursement, file a lawsuit etc to your heart's content.

Assuming that you properly jump-started the car, which you assert, may I suggest that it is possible that all your car needs is a new 12V battery and a new fusible link assembly.

Here is a possible failure scenario: your battery had one or two dead cells. This resulted in the battery lacking power to start the car. When you applied the jump start voltage, the car did start up. Once the DC to DC converter started working, it realized that the 12V bus voltage was low (due to the bad battery) and increased current output. The shorted battery cells resulted in excessive current flowing to the battery, which popped the DC/DC fusible link or the large fuse located at the battery's positive terminal fuseblock.

If no other fuses were popped, then this would confirm your assertion that you properly connected the jump cables. If any other fuses popped, then I would have to say that despite your best efforts, the jump cables were incorrectly connected.

Its unfortunate that you were not able to open the hatch (there is a mechanical release on the inside but you have to crawl into the hatch, remove the folding floor, and remove an access panel in the black plastic tray over the spare tire to find it.) If you had been able to connect your charger directly to the battery, and if the charger refused to provide current to the battery, that would be evidence that the battery had a bad cell or was seriously depleted.

Suppose the tech tells you that the DC/DC fusible link was the only bad fuse. In that case, I would advise you to authorize replacement of the fusible link assembly, which should cost $60 plus labor. I would also advise you to replace the 12V battery with a new battery which may cost $160 plus labor. Then see if the car starts.

Good luck.